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Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, over 15,000 Syrian Armenians have fled to Armenia. Many are descendants of families forced out of Turkey (then the Ottoman Empire) during the Armenian genocide 100 years ago. So they are not viewed as refugees, but rather as displaced Syrians or even returnees, Emma Pearson and Katie Welsford write for Le Monde diplomatique (LDM).

They write that most have settled in Yerevan, with many establishing their own businesses, but a handful have found new homes in Nagorno Karabakh. For over two decades, a shaky ceasefire has held with Azerbaijan, creating a situation of no war, no peace. Though the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)’s Minsk Group, chaired by Russia, France and the US, has spearheaded attempts to solve the conflict since 1992, there has been only limited progress. With no official peace agreement, this ‘frozen conflict’ has been growing increasingly volatile.

According to the article, with the support of several NGOs and private donors, the government in Stepanakert has built irrigation channels, leased agricultural equipment, distributed land and seeds free of charge, and provided free accommodation in refurbished apartment blocs. For Syrian Armenians, who left their homes in Syria with only the most essential possessions, such incentives are almost impossible to refuse. “I have a huge piece of land!” said Garo, a Syrian Armenian from Qamishli, now living in Nagorno Karabakh. “It’s so much easier to get land here than in Syria,” he added.

“Syrians can actually start new lives here. It’s one of the few places they can do this. In Europe, they wouldn’t get a free house or free land, they would just live indefinitely as ‘refugees’. But here, they can restart their lives properly, as humans,” George Tabakyan, the Nagorno Karabakh programme director for the New York-based Tufenkian Foundation, told LMD.

The authors of the article point that Kashatagh where some Syrian Armenian resettled connects Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia, yet for many, it has not only strategic importance. It is an area of cultural significance, containing centuries-old Armenian history. “Historically, Kashatagh was Armenian land. It was part of the Syunik province in ancient Armenia,” Tabakyan told LMD.

Related:

BBC: Over 15,000 Syrian Armenians fleeing war in Syria welcomed by Armenian authorities 

TV channel BBC tells about Armenians’ lives in NKR under Azerbaijan’s permanent threats